June 2017 garden update

We have had some stinkin’ hot days (in the 30s), and some cooler days (high teens) so far in June. The pak choi don’t love hot weather, so the plant looks nothing like pak choi. It’s already bolted and gone to flower. I’ve been told that cutting and frying up the flowers are still delicious, but I haven’t bothered yet. I probably should, just to taste it before all the petals fall off. Lesson learned – will start direct seeding Chinese greens much earlier in the spring. I had directed sowed around May 14, but I probably could start it in mid-March (if it’s a warmer March).

My Patio Star zucchini from West Coast Seeds is doing well! This is what it looked like on June 10 (ignore my dates in the photo – I’m clearly thinking a month ahead:

The netting has come off and this is what it looks like today (June, not July):

Peppers are coming along. The sweet peppers, like Marcato and Doe Hill are currently the biggest ones. Some of the hot pepper plants are still quite small, so I’ll have to keep my fingers and toes crossed. I was hoping to see more of a growth spurt during the hotter consecutive days. I am excited about the Marcato, an Italian sweet pepper. It looks like it will be good year for them.

The Shishito peppers, which usually do really well, are only so-so right now. There were a couple of seedlings that had two plants growing in one jiffy puck (not intentional), and instead of killing off one, I gently tried to separate them when I was transplanting. I think this caused a bit of shock, and they don’t look as strong, but I’m not giving up on them!

Tomato plants are also coming along. One of the Green Zebra plants is very green and very bushy, but I don’t see a lot of flowers. This year, I haven’t pinched any suckers, which might be a contributing factor to less flowers. I did do a little pruning this afternoon, to ensure leaves were not touching the soil. I mainly pruned back the low lying branches and leaves, to allow for better air circulation.

Marianna’s Peace is showing exciting signs. It does have some clusters of flowers and they look so vibrant!

The Sweet 100 is also flowering. This is the plant purchased from Plant World, and it’s one of my favourite cherry tomatoes.

I tasted my first pineberry and it was wonderful! It’s sweet with a hint of tartness, and it does have a pineapple flavour undertone. I love how it’s the reverse of the strawberry with white flesh and red seeds. The berry I picked was not big, maybe the size of a cat’s eye marble, but I wanted to get it before mice, squirrels, or birds got to it. This plant does throw out a lot of runners, and I’ve been diligently potting them. The problem will be where to grow all of these baby plants? I may have to gift some to friends. The struggles of a container gardener!

And the other discovery both hubs and I made recently? We might have a good number of figs this year! We’ve noticed little nubbins scattered throughout our trees and we are guessing those are fruit and not more leaves. I’ll have to pull out my bird netting as soon as the fruit start to develop, to protect them from the the squirrels. My neighbour also offered up some of her scare tape (used for birds – but maybe it will work on squirrels too!) I do have to keep an eye on Desert King as I have noticed quite a few ants. Why is it so hard to find tanglefoot in this city!

I hope that your garden is coming along too, and that everyday brings new delights and curiosities. You really don’t need a large piece of land to start a garden. If you’re short on space, just grow a few things in small pots. Discover the magic of gardens!